Cuff-button



C. D. LYONS.

CUFF BUTTON.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 14, 1919.

Patented Aug. 23, 1921.

0720a 06 3 ms, by

CHARLES n. LYONS, or MANSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

CUFF-BUTTON.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 23, 1921.

Application filed February 14, 1919. Serial No..2 77,054.

T 0 all 10 [won it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES D. LYONS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Mansfield, in the county of Bristol and State of 'Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Cuff-Buttong'of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specificat on, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to cuff buttons and more particularly to cuff buttons of the separable self-retaining type wherein there are employed apair of independent button members adapted to be retained one in each of the two buttonholes ofthe cuff and having means for connecting or disconnecting the same at will.

The invention'will be best understood by reference to the following description when taken in connection withthe accompanying illustration showing several specific embodiments thereof, while its scope will be more particularly pointed out in the appended claim;

In the drawings Figure 1 shows a cuff button in end elevation holding together the two edges of acufl' Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the same;

taken through aplane at right angles to the plane of Fig. 2, andshowing the connection between" the twoseparable button members, the parts being shown in a compressed position suitable for detachment;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing the parts in their normal or expanded rela- V 2 respectively.

tion, one member attached to the other;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the socket-carrying member looking toward the inner head;

Fig. 6 is a side elevation thereof; Fig. 7 is a plan view of the link-carrying member looking toward the head;

Fig. 8 is a plan view of the part which constitutes the link;

Fig. '9 is a sideelevation ofthe same and Fig. 3 is a partial sectional elevation edges 3 and 4, the buttonholes of which are shown at 5 and 6. The button members are provided with shanks 7 and 8 designed to pass through the buttonholes and terminating in lateral flanges or enlargements 9 and 10, each flange being of a size adapted to be inserted through the buttonhole of the cuff edge, but to be there retained in the cuff. Each button member is thus self-retaining, being capable of being held in its respective buttonhole independently of the other'button member, whether said members are connected (as shown) or disconnected (as they may be). Preferably the inner flanged heads are of substantially similar size and shape, and preferably, though not necessarily, the inner heads are of a lesser width or diameter than the two outer front heads 1 and 2.

T0 detachably secure the two button members together, the inner flange 10 of one member is provided with pling member or link 11 which projects axially and longitudinally beyond the flange and is permanently carried thereby. The link (see Figs. 8 and 9) may be formed, as shown, of a metallic strip, the-two ends of which are bent back about a centrally reduced tip 12 presenting the head 13 and the shouldered or reduced portion 14 and rovided with out-turned feet 15 bent at right angles to the main body of the link. The

link is constructed of resilient material and isso shaped that, when assembled in the but ton, it may be compressed under suitable pressure to assume the position shown 'in Fig. 3 or allowed to expand to its natural or normal position, as shown in Fig. 4:.

To support the link in the button member, a box is provided consisting (see Fig. 10) of a flat disk 16 having a channel or depression 17 extending across its face and adapted to receive the feet 15 of the link member. The disk 16 rests against the circular edge of the shank 8 which latter is formed at its inner extremity into a circular head having a cupshaped portion 18. The disk 16 is held betweenthe edge of the cup-shaped portion 18 and a shoe 19, which latter covers the inner face of the button head and has its edge rolled in under the circular head 18, being centrally perforated to permit the projection therethrough of the link member 11. The rolled-over edges of the shoe have diametrically opposite openings through which the a projecting cou-' able distance to permit the user of the button to press them inwardly by squeezing or pinching them between the thumb and forefinger, thereby to compress the link member from the shape shown in Fig. t to that shown in Fig. 8.

The shank 7 for the companion button member may be constructed similar to the shank 8, presenting a circular cup-shaped head 20 against which rests a plate 21 held in place by the shoe 22, the plate and the shoebeing both centrally perforated to permit the entrance therein of the head 13 of the link member. perforation in the companion button member, which opening is indicated at 23 (Fig. 5),,is such a size that it permits either the entrance or the escape of the head 13 of the link when the two sides of the latter are compressed together as shown in Fig. 3, but prevents the escape thereof when the link is normally expanded as indicated in Fig. l; The resiliency of the link is preferably such that it can be readily inserted into the socket by forcing the head of the link into the opening 23 without need of manipulating the feet 15, or, in other words, the two members may be connected by a snap action. The shouldered portion 1a is preferably so shaped, however, as to constitute a positive lock against the detachment of one button member from the other until the one is released from the other by positively pressing This central opening or these parts that the opening 23 is somewhat elliptical or elongated, and the shanks 7 and 8 are also of a flattened or elongated crosssection, thereby permitting one button a considerable range of swinging or tipping movement with relation to the other while the same are held (as indicated in Fig. 2) in attached relation. .The flattened shanks "I and 8 tend to prevent the buttons from turning in the cuffs and maintain the same angular relation between the two button members, thereby keeping the shouldered sides of the head 13 transverse to the elongated opening 23 and preventing the link from turning into such position within the opening as to permit the head of the link to withdraw from the socket. If desired, however, the opening 23 may be circular and the shanks circular in cross-section, the parts so proportioned as to either permit a certain amount of swinging movement or prevent the same, as desired.

While I have herein shown for the purpose of illustration one specific embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the same is not limited to the mechanical details herein shown nor to the form nor relative arrangement of parts, but that extensive deviations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Claim:

A separable cuff link button comprising independent button members each having an outer head and a flanged inner head, the latter adapted to pass through the button holes of the cuff and retain said member therein, and means for detachably securing the same together comprising a snap connection with means responsive to the pressure of the hand for releasing the same, said button members when connected being susceptible of a rocking movement relatively one to the other.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

CHARLES 1). LYONS. 

